For women, ability doesn’t always lead to confidence. Here’s why.

Successful women know only too well that in any male-dominated profession, we often find ourselves at a distinct disadvantage. We are routinely underestimated, underutilized, and even underpaid. Studies show that women need to perform at extraordinarily high levels, just to appear moderately competent compared to our male coworkers.

But in my experience, smart and talented women rarely realize that one of the toughest hurdles they’ll have to overcome to be successful lies within. We judge our own abilities not only more harshly, but fundamentally differently, than men do. Understandingwhy we do it is the first step to righting a terrible wrong. And to do that, we need to take a step back in time.

Chances are good that if you are a successful professional today, you were a pretty bright fifth grade girl. My graduate advisor, psychologist Carol Dweck (author of Mindset) conducted a series of studies in the 1980s, looking at how bright girls and boys in the fifth grade handled new, difficult and confusing material.

She found that bright girls, when given something to learn that was particularly foreign or complex, were quick to give up–and the higher the girls’ IQ, the more likely they were to throw in the towel. In fact, the straight-A girls showed the most helpless responses. Bright boys, on the other hand, saw the difficult material as a challenge, and found it energizing. They were more likely to redouble their efforts, rather than give up.

Among the most infuriating aspects of the leftist/Alinsky strategy is that it has been so effective, given it can only succeed with the tacit participation of its intended victim. On those occasions when a conservative, who has been targeted by the…

This week, Cover Oregon, the corporation set up by the Oregon Legislature to administer Obamacare exchanges in our state, released their ad campaign. This campaign uses music videos and $3.9 million in federal funds to sell Obamacare to Oregonians. The videos met with, at best, mixed reactions.

One Oregonian, a contributor to WatchdogWire Oregon, was moved to respond. Ben Nanke has released a new video that reaffirms the rugged independent Oregon spirit and denies the need for governmental intervention in our personal decisions. (You can see Ben’s reporting for WDW here.)

As Ben states at YouTube,

Published on Jul 19, 2013

This is a response to the recent ad campaign by Cover Oregon.

As native Oregonians, we found it strange that a large-scale, federally-funded ad campaign is trying to twist the meaning of “the Oregon Spirit.”

Quoting the Oregonian – ‘Mark Ray, co-owner and creative director of North [who created the ad campaign], said the initial ads are to “create almost a hello” sort of vibe, while stressing an “Oregon pride, Oregonians take care of themselves kind of thing.”‘

We agree, and believe that “Oregonians take care of themselves” means exactly that. We take care of ourselves. No government mandates, no tax penalties, and no manufactured marketplaces. We love seeing our fellow Oregonians happy, healthy, and strong, which is why we don’t want to see our state fenced in by government-controlled health care.

—–

Lyrics: Benjamin Nanke
Composition/Music: Benjamin Nanke, Sophia Morrison, Matthew Steele, Dashiell House
Filming Team: Benjamin Nanke, Sophia Morrison, Matthew Steele, Logan Knauss
Budget: $40 for gas and dinner for the team
Production Time from start to finish: One week
Special Thanks to CCTV Salem for access to filming equipment and editing facilities

Here are the lyrics:

You know there’s more to a state than the rivers and the rain
The trees and weather, for some, it stops there
They say the Oregon spirit but that’s not how I hear it
There’s more to Oregon than you’re aware

From out East they came, past Chimney Rock
Facing snakes and bites and the mud and the rain
They just hiked up their boots and they pushed through the pain
They said “oh, don’t fence me in”

Across the mountains they forged and came with enterprise
The wagon wheels came in fours and dusty boots came in scores
And the heart of the land fell on weary eyes
But the joy that they’d arrived made up for the sores

Long ago the wagons traveled past the cliffs of the Gorge
We watched the sagebrush trails become I-84
It’s not that I don’t care, it’s that I’ve seen it before
We say “oh, don’t fence me in.”

You say, “ooh, it looks mighty innocent”
but follow the trail, you know it’s gonna derail
I say “ooh, we’re all going to pay for this”
We’ve travelled quite a long road, and we know where this goes

You say it’s time for a change from the Oregon range
Rugged individuality gives way to rain and trees
So don’t tell the people of Oregon that we don’t care
Don’t fence me in. (Don’t fence me in)

The decade of the “Roaring Twenties” featured unprecedented prosperity, largely because government minded its own business. When World War I ended in 1918, Americans were discouraged by the economic depression caused by the conversion from war…

Ted Cruz, Republican Senator from Texas Today, Wednesday, May 29, leftists plan to attack Republican Texas Senator Ted Cruz on social media. They will use his Twitter account @SenTedCruz and also his Facebook page. On Twitter, they will be using hashtag #YouCruzYouLose. You can help Sen. Cruz fight…

This panel – Russ Walker, Michelle Ray, Jason Pye, and Teri Christoph – was by far my favorite of #BlogCon2013. It was a spirited and passionate discussion on how Conservatives and Libertarians must find common ground in the ongoing fight for Freedom.

A Batavia High School teacher’s fans are rallying to support him as he faces possible discipline for advising students of their Constitutional rights before taking a school survey on their behavior.

They’ve been collecting signatures on an online petition, passing the word on Facebook, sending letters to the school board, and planning to speak at Tuesday’s school board meeting.

Students and parents have praised his ability to interest reluctant students in history and current affairs.

But John Dryden said he’s not the point. He wants people to focus on the issue he raised: Whether school officials considered that students could incriminate themselves with their answers to the survey that included questions about drug and alcohol use.

Dryden, a social studies teacher, told some of his students April 18 that they had a 5th Amendment right to not incriminate themselves by answering questions on the survey, which had each student’s name printed on it.

The survey is part of measuring how students meet the social-emotional learning standards set by the state. It is the first year Batavia has administered such a survey.

School district officials declined to provide a copy of the survey to the Daily Herald, saying the district bought the survey from a private company, Multi-Health Systems Inc., and the contents are proprietary business information.

They did provide the script teachers were to read to students before the test.

It does not tell students whether participation is mandatory or optional.

You would assume that English Language Arts for first graders involves spelling, grammatical rules, sentence structure and things of that nature. Very foundational learning tools that will support future learning.

Here are a couple videos showing how ELA is actually not teaching those skills, but, in fact, playing on emotions and manipulating a young child’s mind.

If this doesn’t turn your stomach and churn up outrage on behalf of your child or, really, any innocent child, I don’t know what does.

In case that doesn’t explain it well for you, here is the message from a Clinical Mental Health Therapist on the danger this brings to a child’s emotional well being.

And again I end up at the same question: WHY. Why do they want to do this to our children? Ask yourself. Ask your legislators. Ask. I believe I know the answer but it’s important for you to come to your own conclusion.

If it was honestly about the foundations of ELA…it would be simple stories, not complex emotional manipulation designed to tap into your child’s parasympathetic system.

Georgia: State school chief will dive into Cobb’s Common Core debate

State Schools Superintendent John Barge is coming to Cobb County on Saturday to address concerns about the controversial Common Core standards.

The announcement of Barge’s visit to Cobb comes on the heels of a 4-3 vote by the Cobb Board of Education last week to reject the purchase of $7.5 million in math textbooks aligned with Common Core. This rejection at the local level came after the state had already committed to implementing the nationwide standards under the past two governors, Sonny Perdue and Nathan Deal, even though the Legislature has never voted on the issue.

That Barge would come to Cobb to face what is likely to be a room full of fellow Republicans with deep-seated suspicions about a federal program is a sign that worry is building in Atlanta about the possibility of a grassroots revolt against Common Core.

Barge is scheduled to address the Cobb Republican Party Breakfast at 8:15 a.m. Saturday at the GOP’s Roswell Street headquarters.

Meanwhile, Republican office-holders in Cobb, along with those hoping to be elected to offices here, continue to line up against Common Core.

Here is SKSD’s response to a question about Common Core Standards in SKSD:

With the adoption of Common Core State Standards, we have an unprecedented opportunity to access instructional materials and innovative practices on a national level. Many of these resources are open source, meaning anyone can access the materials.

The primary responsibility of Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment program assistants is to take current and innovative research and practices from the field and determine how well it aligns to and supports instruction of Common Core State Standards and promotes college and career readiness in our district. The program assistants also participate in the national and state committees for Smarter Balance, Achieve, Next Generation, South Metro to Salem STEM Hub and national language arts consortium where they are able to provide input to the development of national and state instructional and assessment materials as well learn about innovations relative to CCSS.

We currently are working with both Stanford University and University of Colorado Boulder on development and implementation of instructional practices and materials for K-12 ELL students.

Additionally, the district applies for US Department of Education grants to support expansion through pilots of innovative practices developed by teachers in the field.

I've dedicated this page to helping wake up America. You'll find lots of topics here of interest to American Patriots who wish to defend the Constitution completely and want to see America thrive the right way. We're bitter clingers who support limited government, support our military and veterans, don't mind waving Old Glory, and telling you we love the USA. Are you with us?

"It [charity] encourages the healthier and more normal sections of the world to shoulder the burden of unthinking and indiscriminate fecundity of others; which brings with it, as I think the reader must agree, a dead weight of human waste. Instead of decreasing and aiming to eliminate the stocks that are most detrimental to the future of the race and the world, it tends to render them to a menacing degree dominant .” Margaret Sanger, found of Planned Parenthod writing in "The Pivot of Civilization", 1922.